MORE than four in five misconduct allegations made against Northumbria Police officers last year resulted in no action taken, new figures show.

Across England and Wales, the proportion of allegations not seeing further action remained unchanged from the year before at 89 per cent.

Home Office figures show 2,190 misconduct allegations were made against Northumbria Police officers and handled under the formal complaints process in the year to March 2023 – significantly down from 2,795 the year before.

Of these, 2,166 were either not investigated, or investigated not subject to special procedures, with 1,823 (84 per cent) resulting in no further action.

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There were just five allegations leading to misconduct proceedings, while 180 were withdrawn. Figures cover the total number of allegations rather than the number of complaints, as one complaint could contain several misconduct allegations.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Hexham Courant revealed the types of allegations against police officers and what disciplinary action was taken when they resulted in misconduct proceedings.

The five allegations leading to misconduct proceedings referred to two separate cases.

The first case related to one police officer with an allegation of use of force, resulting in a meeting with an outcome of a written warning.

The second case involved two police officers subject to two allegations each, one regarding a 'general level of service' and another regarding use of force. This resulted in a meeting and the finding was no case to answer for both officers concerning the allegations.

The head of Northumbria Police's Professional Standards Department, detective superintendent Donna Rose, said the force has an ongoing proactive approach to tackling unacceptable behaviour.

"It is an honour and a privilege to be a police officer, and upon joining we take an oath to serve with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality," she said.

However, she claimed that when individuals do not meet these qualities, the force is "relentless" in its pursuit to "root out those individuals who don’t share our values – and who ultimately have no place within policing".

"We therefore expect to see a continued rise in the number of cases going through misconduct proceedings.

“This shows the extensive work we are doing in this area is having a positive impact, with people increasingly recognising when someone has acted inappropriately and further highlighting the culture within the organisation where they have the confidence to come forward," DSI Rose added.

A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: “Any complaint received by the force is dealt with in line with national guidelines.

“We continue to be clear that we expect officers, staff and volunteers to maintain the highest standards at all times and if anyone is found to have fallen below these we are committed to taking appropriate action.

“We value the opinions of the communities and details of how to provide feedback are available on our website.

“We are determined to continually build on the trust and confidence people have in the service we provide.”